Going Turbo
by Dixie Darlin
Summary: Turbo had it all...the fans, the trophies, the respect of the community, even the girl. And then it was gone. (first in trilogy)
1. The Way It Was

**Going Turbo**

**PROLOGUE**

READY...SET...GO!

GO GO TURBO GO!

IIIIIIIT'S TUURBOOOO TIIIIME!

THE MOST "TURBO-TASTIC" RACE ON THE PLANET!

***insert quarter to play***

* * *

The roar of the crowd...the electric energy in the air...the firm grip on the wheel...the desire to WIN. It's all he knew. It's all he ever wanted. This life...it was HIS.

_TurboTime_ was one of the (if not THE) most popular game at Litwak's Family Fun Center. Everyone knew it, most of all it's star player Turbo himself. He was programmed to win and win he did. ALOT. Maybe a little too much if you asked the competing racers but, hey, it wasn't HIS idea to make him the star was it? The star had to win after all or no one would play the game. If no one plays your game, well...retirement comes a little early let us say.

The plug gets pulled and no one wants that.

Especially someone who knows he's a winner.

So how does a guy who's cruising Easy Street end up lost in legend? Not even a good legend, but one of those "boogeyman" type stories you spook the kids with. Don't be like Turbo, he went nuts one day and never came back. What happened to that guy? He used to mean something in this place, like winning and trophies and just overall being "the best". Now it means "abandonment", "flew the coop", "off his rocker", "crazy psycho lunatic with a bloodlust", etc.

Everyone has a story...some people's just get off track a little bit.

* * *

**Chapter One**

(Year 1987)

After-hours races were something Turbo loved doing. When some kid at the controls had him, sure he was fast and won trophies, but it was when he had control over his own car that he really shined. He felt like he was actually proving himself as the best out there, like he deserved to be the title player. The twins, Ted and Teddy, put up a good fight in these races and they would sometimes beat him. _Sometimes_.

Turbo wasn't sure what the best part of racing was...being in the car, behind the wheel, controlling that little powerhouse on wheels...or getting the win afterwards. Not necessarily the trophy, he had plenty of those covering at least three rooms in the house, but just the _idea_ of winning was enough most of the time. The parties were fun too, he threw pretty "turbotastic" ones if he said so himself. Beer as much as you could carry straight from _Tapper's_, but root beer for Rosie since she was eternally stuck at eighteen. Dating a teenager had it's perks, especially if she was a cheerleader. She liked having fun as much as he did and had the energy to keep up.

The twins were off in their own corner talking to themselves, a pitcher between them on the little table they sat at. Turbo would try to pals with them, and they would usually humor him with the idea of it but mostly they didn't bother reaching out.

"I'm so sick of this, Ted. Really, I just can't take it anymore," said Teddy. He gulped a large portion of beer down and wiped his mouth. "If I lose one more race to that guy, I don't know what I'm gonna do."

"Bro, chill. He wins like nine out of ten races we have. Nothing new."

"I know, that's the problem." He shot his eyes over at the bar where Turbo was sitting on a stool, facing away from them. His little squeeze from that basketball game _Slam Dunk!_ was by him as usual, playing with the ends of her long red ponytail. What did she even see in that guy? What did _anyone_ see in that guy?

"You're staring," Ted told his brother.

"I just want to know who decided that we had to be the losers of this game, huh? I bet if I were the star, I'd win all the time." He kept his eyes on Turbo. "I mean, who writes the rules? Why does he get to be the best?"

"Hey, come on, we win too."

"Yeah, only if some crappy kid takes the controls of the game, or if Turbo's having a bad luck streak and one of us manages to steal the gold from him during the after-hours tournaments. If only we could win _more_."

Ted gave him a wary look. "Dude, what exactly are you saying? Cheat?"

"No! Okay, maybe. Look, there's ways to change the code..."

"Whoa, whoa, do you hear yourself? We can't do that!"

"You want to win, don't you?" Teddy asked him with a challenging tone.

Ted looked sheepish. "Well...it would be nice but-"

"Exactly. Leave it to me."

An unexpected voice came from the side. "Leave what to you?"

The twins jumped, startled at the interruption.

"Sorry, sorry!" Rosie apologized, straightening the waist of her pink and yellow cheer skirt. It hung down to almost her knees as was the fashion of the time and she had a yellow long-sleeve tee layered under a pink cheer shirt. Her green eyes were wide as if they had scared her in return.

"What do you want?" Teddy asked coldly.

"I...I just wanted to see if...if-" Teddy always scared her. Ted was okay but to be honest they both creeped her out. Always hanging out by themselves, like they had something to hide. Not to mention the ugly looks they sometimes gave. "If you guys needed a refill. That's all. I didn't mean to scare you."

Ted smiled at her reassuringly. "It's fine, Rosie. We just didn't see you there. Yes, please, a refill would be nice." He handed her the pitcher to take back to the bar with her.

She gave him an odd smile as if she wasn't too comfortable and then walked back where the bar was.

"Don't freak her out, bro, she'll be the first to know something's not right and blab to Turbo about it!" Ted scolded his brother in a hushed voice.

"She won't blab if she knows what's good for her."

"Dude, seriously? Threats now?" He laughed in spite of himself. "You're crazy."

* * *

"The twins are being extra weird," Rosie said to Turbo after she returned from handing over the refilled beer pitcher to them. She wondered what they had been talking about so intently before she had interrupted them. She hadn't trusted them since the night a couple years back when Teddy "accidentally" slammed Turbo's car into a wall. Looked pretty on purpose for an accident if you asked her.

Turbo looked back at them and shrugged. "Don't worry about 'em. They're harmless."

"I don't know..."

He wrapped an arm around her. "Lighten up, it's a party! Here, don't tell Tapper." He covertly poured some of his beer into her glass of root beer.

"Cheers!" He clanged his glass by hers.

"Haha, so clever." She rolled her eyes playfully with a smile before taking a swig. "Hey, speaking of cheers, I've got a few new ones I need to practice. Wanna help, champ?"

He gave her that mischievous grin she always loved, which was all the answer she needed.

So he helped her with her cheers and she helped him cross the finish line. It was a win-win situation.

* * *

_Wreck-It Ralph and characters belongs to Disney. Tapper, Sonic, Mario, RoadBlasters and any other well known game character belongs to their respective owner. The only ones that belong to me are Rosie, and then her game Slam Dunk! and anyone coming out of that game._


	2. Meet Rocky

Author's Note: Forgot to mention, the twins' names (Ted/Teddy), I got them from some tumbler account where different people were calling them that so I decided to borrow. Not sure who first came up with that idea but good enough for me! Also attempted to draw Turbo while looking at a screenshot of him looking happy for the story image :)

* * *

**Going Turbo**

**Chapter Two**

Mr. Litwak stepped back and admired the new addition to his arcade. _RoadBlasters_ it was called. The guy he bought it from said it was a racing game combined with a first person shooter. Best he could explain it anyway. Sounded pretty fun, the boys would love it. He looked over at _TurboTime_, with Turbo's little 8-bit face smiling at him. Mr. Litwak sighed. He liked the old game, a lot of folks did. He felt like he was betraying an old friend by putting some competition in but business is business.

The friendly owner patted the _TurboTime_ console as if he were patting an old friend on the back. "No hard feelings, pal. Just play nice, okay? We'll see it goes. Even if folks quit playing you, I'll still toss a quarter or two in."

* * *

Turbo knew about the new game. How could he miss it? It was parked right where he could see it everyday. _Roadblasters_ they called it. Everyone around here always got excited about a new game, especially one with "realistic graphics". He remembered people saying that about _his_ game when he first got plugged in about ten years ago.

That reminded him, his anniversary party was coming up soon. It was supposed to be a surprise, but Rosie never could keep her enthusiasm toned down very long. Everyone was invited: Tapper (wouldn't be a party without him!), Pete Pepper from _BurgerTime_, Mario, the folks at _Fix-It Felix, Jr._, Rosie's friends from _Slam Dunk!_, the _Street Fighter _crew (who were fairly new themselves), Pac-Man, the list went on. He might even be nice and invite the new racers over.

_Check out the competition_, Turbo thought to himself.

Not that Litwak would ever unplug him, right?

Popular games don't get their plugs pulled, right?

_Yeah, you mean like _Space Invaders_ right? You see them around anywhere?_

"What's eatin' you?" Rosie asked him. "We're gonna miss the whole match if you keep dawdling like that."

_Street Fighter_ was having one of their after-hours matches. Pretty much all the sport-related games had some kind of tournament after the arcade closed and that was usually where everyone would be at. Being a cheerleader, Rosie naturally wanted to go to all of them but she would always say races were her favorite. That's how they met after all.

"It's nothing," Turbo told her with a big smile. He didn't want to worry her. "Besides, if you had let me take the car, we would have gotten there by now."

"Oh, right because it makes sense to drive to the other side of the station and down two spaces," she replied playfully.

"You could've sat in my lap though."

She laughed. "Ha! I should've known. An ulterior motive!"

"Ahhh, you were thinking it too, don't lie."

"Fine, you got me. And I was also thinking about how you change the subject when you don't want to talk about something."

He looked off to the side. "I said nothing was wrong."

"Oh come on, we've been together for what? Four years? I know when something's wrong, so what is it?"

Turbo looked over to where Q*bert and his fellow players were hanging out in the lobby. Poor guys, they had lost their game only after a couple years of being on the market. What did those guys do all day? Begging for handouts? Hoping someone would take them in? Thinking about the past? Thinking about what could have been? He would hate it if that happened to him.

"Look at those guys over there," he said out loud. "Those poor saps have nothing to live for and yet here they are. Nothing they can do about it. Everything they knew just vanished with no hope of ever getting it back."

"Turbo, just because there's a new racing game doesn't mean you're going to get unplugged."

"But there's a chance!" he exclaimed a little louder than he wanted to. "There's always that chance, isn't there? Getting replaced by someone better...losing everything you worked for just because you're outdated." He hung his head down in a depressed manner. "It's worse than dying."

"Hey, stop it!" Rosie grabbed his face to make him look at her. "You're talking nonsense. You can't be replaced, okay? Sure our _games_ might get replaced one day and maybe people will forget about us but _you_ can't be replaced. And even if you stop being the best to the general public, you'll still be the best to _me_."

She pulled him into a hug, squeezed him a little harder than what may have been considered comfortable, and told herself not to get emotional like a silly teenager and keep her teary eyes to herself. Just because you're eighteen doesn't mean you have to act like it all the time.

"And don't ever talk about dying again, I don't like it."

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. In the years that followed this one, he would remember this moment and scold himself for not telling her that she was the best to him too.

"I'm sorry. You're right, I'm assuming the worst."

He gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek before promptly slapping her on the "rah rah RASS".

"GEEZ!"

"Rosie, knock off the PDA! You know how the Surge Protector feels about that_." _

"Excuse me, who slapped who just now?"

"Speaking of slapping, we're missing the epic brawl that is _Street Fighter_." He grabbed her hand to pull her along. "Maybe we'll get lucky and have to sit way in the back!"

* * *

"I totally thought Ken would win that one."

"Yeah, I totally did too. Bummer."

Rosie was hanging with her two co-cheerleaders after the fight. Summer was a dark-tanned blonde with curly hair and Raven was the black-haired one with olive-skin. They always seemed more interested in what was going on inside their own game _Slam Dunk!_ than the rest of the world, so it was kind of odd to see them here tonight. Rosie usually got bored with them but she still liked them okay.

"You still throwing that party for Speedy, Rosie?" Summer was asking as she stared at herself in her compact mirror.

"Who? Oh, yeah of course! Ten years is a big deal!"

"Doesn't that make him kinda _old_ now?" Raven pointed out. Summer poorly hid a giggle.

Rosie glared at her. "He's not old. He's supposed to be like thirty, I guess. Something like that."

"Oh, Red, we're just playing with you," Raven told her, running a hand through her long stick-straight hair. "You're the only one of us that's dating anyone so we _have _to poke a little fun."

"Hey, is he as fast at finishing other stuff as he is on the track?" Summer asked with an exaggerated wink and the two girls burst into laughter.

"That's none of your business," Rosie answered, blushing from embarrassment and getting a little pissed. "But just to shut you up, the answer's no."

That made them laugh even harder. The redhead was about ready to flip them both onto their heads when a deep masculine voice interrupted.

"Well, well, I certainly hope you ladies aren't laughing at _me_."

Everyone shut up instantly and stared at the strange man who just walked up. He was tall, at least two heads taller than them and had huge muscles rippling out underneath his grey tee shirt. He had dark features and a nice five o'clock shadow that didn't do a thing to hide the smirk he was wearing.

"Whoa," Summer said under her breath. "Um, hi there."

"Hello yourself. Name's Rocky. I'm new here, from _RoadBlasters_. Just got plugged in."

Rosie's eyes got big and felt a sick feeling in her stomach. She didn't feel too good about talking to a guy who may or may not cause her boyfriend's game to get unplugged, but then again he _just_ got here and hadn't done much of anything except say hello. No sense being rude to someone who is new, right?

"I'm Summer, and this is Raven."

"Hi," Raven said, having to stop herself from staring to hard at the ruggedly handsome man. "And this is Rosie."

"Rosie's boyfriend is a racer too," Summer stated, much to Rosie's dismay.

"Is that a fact?" Rocky asked, one eyebrow cocked up in curiosity. "Who might that be?"

"Turbo...from _TurboTime?_" Rosie answered warily. "Your console is kinda in front of his."

"Oh yeah, I was wondering about that game. He any good?"

"The best!" she answered immediately and with a bit of edge in her voice. She'd be damned is someone showed up trying to mess with _her _champ.

"Huh. Might just have to meet this guy."

* * *

Author's Note: The RoadBlasters guy doesn't have a name so I made one up. I'm aware that a female voice is what is in the game but I'll just attribute that to his car talking or something.


	3. Inside Look at RoadBlasters

**Going Turbo**

**Chapter Three  
**

Meanwhile, Turbo got caught up talking to Fix-It Felix. They weren't close friends or anything, but they still chatted when they saw each other. Felix was a swell guy that everyone liked to have around. Turbo thought he could use a little more excitement in his life but the mild-mannered young man seemed perfectly fine with his quiet, safe ways.

"Would you mind asking Mary to bring one of those cakes of hers to the party?" Turbo was asking him. "They're positively turbo-tastic, haha."

Felix imagined rolling his eyes, not daring to actually do it. He didn't have anything against the racer, he just thought he was a little too prideful at times. He did have to admit he knew how to throw a good party though and he was for the most part one of the easiest people to get along with. Their consoles had been next door to each other since Felix's game was plugged in, so the two saw each other a good bit after-hours.

He smiled at Turbo, his blue eyes glowing with friendliness as usual. "You bet! She'd love to. My lands, ten years already! Flies by, doesn't it?"

"Almost like a race car does."

Felix wanted to ask if he had met the new racers from _RoadBlasters _yet but he opted not too. After all, if a new wrecking/building game were to move into the arcade, Felix might not want someone asking him about it either.

"Say, where's ol' Ralph at? He's usually the one to show up at these things. No offense, but you're hardly the type to watch two guys beat each other up." Turbo jabbed Felix in the arm in jest.

"Haha, well just thought I'd take a peek," Felix replied half-heartedly, rubbing his arm where Turbo punched him. "I think he's at Tapper's, like he usually is."

"Not much for hanging out with you guys, huh?"

"Well...I don't think the others really want him around to be honest. Not that I blame them, I mean he _is_ the villain."

"Ahh, I bet he's a big teddy bear."

Turbo's eyes fell on the tall strange man that had just walked up to Rosie's group. A cold chill passed through him almost instantly.

"Hey, do you know who that is?"

Felix focused on him for a few seconds. "I think that's the _RoadBlasters_ guy."

_So much for not bringing it up, _he thought.

Turbo didn't say anything except "huh" and just kept staring at him. Whoever he was, he was a tall guy. Pretty decent looking too. He could see Summer and Raven fawning over him already. A real Romeo, this one apparently.

"Well! I need to get on back home before the Nicelanders send out a search party," Felix piped up in a cheery voice to break the awkward silence. "What kind of cake did you want Mary to make?"

"Um, chocolate's fine." Turbo quit looking at the newcomer long enough to wave Felix goodbye. "See ya later and thanks!"

Felix looked a little worried but he left regardless. Turbo took in a breath and decided he best go on over there and introduce himself to the new guy. No time like the present!

* * *

"Aw, crap, there he goes."

Ted and Teddy were watching Turbo make his way to where Rocky and the girls were congregated at. Teddy was slouched forward in his chair, watching Turbo's every move.

"I bet he's gonna challenge him to a race, you watch," Teddy opined. "Big man has to prove himself to the newbies."

"Isn't it a little wise to size up your rival?" Ted countered. "I mean, if that guy's game gets more popular than ours, we need a gameplan so we don't get unplugged."

"Quit making excuses for him," the other snapped. "He just wants to feel good about himself and feed his ego some more."

"All right, but if he goes over there, I'm going to watch."

"Heck, me too! I'd love to see his ass handed to him."

* * *

Rosie's "Oh Crap"-meter rose a few degrees when Turbo came up to them. The last thing she wanted was him getting into some crazy fight with this Rocky guy, should it come to that. She loved him but, bless his heart, he would get killed going up against this man.

She knew he meant business when he put his arm around her shoulders a little too tight, like he was being possessive of her. He hadn't done that since their first year of going out, and that was just because the _Paperboy_ of all people was actually trying to hit on her.

"Summer, Raven," Turbo greeted with a tip of his head. "How're you gals doing?"

"We're good, thanks," Raven answered. "We were just talking about going to your party."

"Oh great!" he smiled. Rosie was smiling too but hers was a nervous one. "The more the merrier."

"Party, huh?" Rocky asked. "Special occassion, I assume? I'm Rocky, by the way, from _RoadBlasters_."

Turbo sized the guy up. He was a big dude all right, even more so up close. He was about two heads taller than Turbo and all three girls, and he had muscles _everywhere_. His biceps looked like they had biceps!

_The bigger they are, the harder they fall._

"Yeah, it's kind of an anniversary-type thing," Turbo responded rather non-nonchalantly. "Ten years."

Rocky let out a whistle. "Ten years, no fooling? Impressive. Say, since you've been around so long, maybe you'd like to come over and check out my place."

"Oh, no really, I couldn't impose."

"Come on! It'll be a _blast_." Rocky was slyly grinning, one might say even _menacingly_.

Rosie shook her head "no" but Turbo said, "If you really insist, don't see the harm in it."

Summer and Raven were practically drooling. "Can we come too?"

"Sure, can't have too many babes around."

Rosie was shooting daggers at them but they were already attached to Rocky's side, a girl to each arm, and walking away with him.

"I don't like this," she said quietly. "He seems shady."

"Don't worry about it, we're just going to take a little look-see."

* * *

"I can't believe they aren't gonna duke it out," Teddy commented. "Too bad, I was looking forward to it."

"Hey, but I think Turbo's gonna go over there. Think we should go with him?"

"I ain't going nowhere _with _him...but I _will _go."

"You're so dramatic sometimes. Come on."

* * *

The world of _RoadBlasters_ was definitely much different than any of them had in mind. Sure there were cars and tracks, but it seemed rather _hostile_. Some other racers were already cruising along in their own race. It wasn't just cars though, there were motorcycles too and some plane would fly around every now and then. Some catchy rock music was playing in the background, which seemed fitting for the almost desert landscape and the tough attitudes that inhabited it.

Turbo thought it looked pretty cool but didn't see how it was much different than his own game. It was just a basic racing game, albeit with better graphics and slightly better music. He was beginning to think he had nothing to worry about and then-

"Whoa, was that gunfire?" Ted asked in an alarmed voice, ducking down a little as if to keep anything from hitting him.

"You betcha," Rocky answered. "We're like a shooting-racing combination. My job is collect weapons and fuel so I can destroy the enemy racers and make it to the finish line."

"Sounds totally badass," Summer told him, who was still by his side along with Raven.

"More like totally dangerous," Rosie said under her breath. "Can we go now?"

"Go? We just got here!" Turbo replied, walking forward a little bit to get a better view of the surroundings.

"Yeah, that's right!" Rocky agreed. "You haven't been given the official grand tour. My car's over here."

_About time_, thought Turbo, _that's the real reason I wanted to come over here anyway._

Everyone followed Rocky to what looked like a locked-down garage. Rosie was hanging back behind Turbo, scared to death of what they were walking into. She could handle the bloody street fighting and the _normal _races, but this blowing-up-stuff and getting shot at was way out of her comfort zone.

Rocky opened up the garage and flung the doors open. "There she is. My pride and joy."

It looked heavily armored and red (_like my car_, Turbo realized), with silver pipes in the back and multiple places that looked where a weapon might go. Actually, there was already a gun holstered to the front of it.

"Dude, you have a _gun_ on your _car_." Teddy was practically ogling it. "That is the most awesome thing ever!"

"That is my UZ Cannon. Works kinda like a machine gun. I also have some missiles, some nitro stuff to make the car faster, and an electrified shield to protect me."

"Must be a real warzone out there, huh?" Turbo asked, still looking over the car. _It's much cooler than mine. The players will love this, especially the boys._

"You have no clue. Those guys are throwing bombs, setting mines, giant guns on the side, and laying out toxic waste to slip in the whole time. Not to mention some of them are bulletproof." Rocky took a second to flex an arm. "But I usually get by okay."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Rocky continued. "How's about me and you have a race. Friendly competition, you know. For fun."

Everybody stared at Turbo. Rosie shook her head "no" at him. Teddy nudged Ted's side and said something to him that Turbo couldn't hear. The racer wasn't one-hundred percent sure if he could even survive a race against a guy whose car had a _gun_ mounted to it, but he couldn't very well back down. Could he?


	4. The Most Important Race of All Time

****Author's Note: Finally got a decent pic for story image (took forever). This chapter was hard to write! Really difficult to write a racing scene without just talking about them driving in circles (lol). Hope you guys enjoy :)

* * *

**Going Turbo**

**Chapter Four**

It was the next night when the big showdown was to occur. Everyone had heard about it by then and that's all anyone would talk about. A seasoned veteran up against the tough rookie. Everybody had an opinion on who would win and some groups had even started betting pools. The whole thing would take place at Turbo's since he had a stadium to seat everyone and, more importantly, no mines and toxic spills to kill him.

As soon as the arcade closed, the entire gaming population swarmed out of their homes and lined up at _TurboTime_ to hitch a ride on the little transportation caddy that would take them to the game. Rocky was already there; he had wanted to practice a few laps in the unfamiliar territory. Not that he had any doubts he would lose. He may be a rookie, but his programmed stats were enough to boast about.

He was just getting out of his car when he heard someone go "pssst!".

Cautious, Rocky looked around. Never can be too careful outside your own game.

"Hey, over here!"

He peered and saw what looked to be someone waving him over at the corner of the stadium that faced away from the entrance stairs. Rocky decided to humor himself and go take a look. As he got closer, the strange person peeked out and continued waving him over. Rocky recognized him: one of the other racers that was part of _TurboTime_. He wasn't sure which one, the two of them appeared to be twins, but he was wary none the less.

"Could you have walked any slower?" the little man asked impatiently.

"What do you want? And if this is a plea to take it easy on your star player, then it's not gonna work on me."

"Trust me, you will _never_ hear me say that. Name's Teddy, by the way." He reached an arm out to shake hands with Rocky, who slowly extended his arm out in return. "Listen, I was actually kinda hoping that you would mop the track with him."

Rocky seemed stunned. "You mean you want me to win?"

"Of course! I get so sick of this guy winning all the time. If he beats you, we'll _never_ hear the end of it!"

"Ha! I doubt he would beat me. My program is newer so it's got updated improvements from older ones."

"Yeah, I figured that. Don't beat him _too _easy though. Drag it out a little bit and then _wham!" _Teddy punched a fist into the other hand's open palm. "Leave him in the dust! Would be nice to see the guy so brutally humbled."

"I take it he brags a lot then?"

"The guy throws a party every time he wins, what do _you_ think?"

* * *

LAAAADIES AAAAAND GENTLEMEEEEEN! WELCOME TO THE TURBOTIME TRACK! RACE WILL BEGIN MOMENTARILY! EVERYONE PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR SEATS. NO ONE GOES ONTO THE TRACKS DURING THE RACE. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM THROWING THINGS OVER THE RAIL. REMEMBER THE SAFETY OF THE DRIVERS AND YOURSELF.

The speaker wasn't an actual character that could walk around or even hold a conversation with you. He was simply a machine that had a knack for reporting every little thing that happened on the track during racing times. He didn't recognize Rocky's car on the track so he had to scan the car in order to put it in his digital roster.

AGAIN, WELCOME TO THE TURBOTIME TRACK! ARE YOU READY TO SEE SOME ACTION?!

The crowd roared its answer enthusiastically.

ON ONE SIDE...INTRODUCING OUR GUEST FROM THE NEIGHBORING ROADBLASTERS...LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR ROOOOCKYYYY!

Rocky sped out in his car, honking at the audience. Everyone was screaming and going crazy.

_It's gonna be fun having all this to myself_, he thought as he stuck a hand out the window and waved.

AND ON THE OTHER SIDE...OUR REIGNING CHAMPION SUPREME...THE STAR OF TURBOTIME HIMSELF...TURBOOOOO!

That was his cue.

Speeding out, Turbo heard the giant crowd screaming his name, a crowd full of adoring fans. He could never give this up. He _had_ to win. Show them he still had what it took to be the best.

"Give me a T! Give me a U! Give me an R! Give me a B! Give me an O! What does that spell! Turbo! Gooooo Turboooo!" Rosie was cheering from the very front row, waving her pink-and-yellow pompoms with one hand and yelling into her megaphone with the other.

"Turbo's number one! Straight to the top!

He is the best! He drives nonstop!

Let's go! Let's drive!

He's here to win all right!

You're looking at the best! Yes, it's TurboTime!"

RACERS...PLEASE GET INTO YOUR STARTING POSITIONS!

Goggles...check. Driving gloves...check. Helmet...check. Turbo cracked his knuckles and secured the goggles over his eyes. He looked over at Rocky's car and felt the thrill of competiton race through his veins. He kept a tight grip with one hand on the wheel and one on the gear-shift. He could feel his heart beating so hard it was making his whole body shake.

_Easy, ol' boy, calm down. You got this._

ON YOUR MARKS!

_Give it all you got._

GET SET!

Turbo anxiously tapped the gas ever so slightly, making the car give an infuriated growl.

GOOOO!

* * *

_(Mood Music For Race: Big Bad Moon by Joe Satriani)_

Twelve laps in. Eighteen more to go.

Turbo was feeling pretty great about himself. So far he was keeping ahead of Rocky by at least a couple yards. He smirked to himself. So much for those newer programs being better than his, huh? Maybe he wouldn't have to worry about retirement anytime soon.

Curve coming up. Swoosh to the left, but not too much. Don't hit the wall. Aced it. This track was a second home to Turbo so he knew it like the back of his hand.

He glanced in the side mirror and saw Rocky appear to get closer to his left side.

_Trying to pass, don't think so. Not today_.

He eased the car to the left to block Rocky from getting around him. Easiest maneuver in the book. This newbie was going to have to do better than that if he wanted to win this thing.

Rocky grinned. He had wanted him to move that way. He quickly made the car go right and sped his way past Turbo, much to the latter's dismay. With clenched teeth and narrowed eyes, Turbo slammed the gas pedal down harder.

* * *

The stadium was going wild. Hands clapping, feet stomping, yelling, you name it they were doing it.

"His name is Turbo, he is the best!

Once he gets started, you'll forget about the rest!

You've seen the other racers;

They don't pass the test!

They're not number one,

Simply second! Turbo's the best!"

* * *

Three more laps down now. Race was halfway over. Turbo would gain on Rocky enough to get by him for a few minutes but then Rocky would go do the same thing. Sweat rolled down Turbo's face. This was more serious than he originally thought. This guy was definitely a much more formidable opponent than Ted or Teddy had ever been. If he won this, it would be the greatest victory of his career. If he lost...he wouldn't let himself think of it.

_Stay focused, stay focused. Concentrate. You're the best. You know that. _

Rocky was now doing a good job blocking his attempts at passing by him. The younger driver was having fun toying with his opponent. It almost seemed unfair since he knew he was going to win in the end. He would go so far to say it was cruel to make Turbo think he even had a sporting chance at winning, but at the same time he was having to much fun to really care. There was no room in a race, or _any_ competition, for feelings.

Rocky purposely moved a little bit to the right just ever so slightly.

Turbo grinned and made his move forward, planning to speed up as he did so.

The grin faded when Rocky suddenly bumped him to the side, causing his car to steer off the track a little bit.

"Watch it, you maniac," Turbo growled in a low voice as he struggled to get his car back under control. "You like to play rough? Two can play at that game."

_Calm down, he's just trying to rattle your cage. _

_Ha! More like _wreck_ the cage!  
_

_He just wants you to lose concentration, is all.  
_

Turbo shook himself to quit arguing with himself. This was probably the most important race of his life, he had no time to let a little bump get him off track. Literally and figuratively.

* * *

"Victory Victory!

That's our cry!

Victory Victory!

That's our pride!

Split that V!

Dot that I!

Curve that C-T-O-R-Y!"

* * *

Five more laps. Almost over. The sweet taste of victory was so close. Turbo had just gotten past Rocky again and was finally picking up enough speed to get some distance between them. All he had to do was keep in front like this and he'd have that win in the bag.

Then something he wasn't expecting happened. He wasn't even sure if he could believe it.

Rocky had decided that he'd had enough playing around and kicked the car into the highest gear. Effortlessly, he sped around Turbo's car. The difference in speed was enough to make Turbo's car go over to the side.

Within a mere twenty seconds, Rocky sped by him yet _again_. Turbo struggled to keep his car on the track.

"What the hell?"

Rocky zoomed by him a third time.

_This can't be happening. He can't possibly be going that fast._

He looked up in his rear-view mirror just in time to see the other man coming towards him.

"Oh, shit!"

Turbo had to make himself fly off the track to keep from getting hit, and then the following turbulence made him spin out. Next thing he knew, he was upside down.

* * *

A unanimous gasp went around the stadium as they saw Rocky barrel past Turbo, so fast it was like Turbo was just sitting there doing nothing. Teddy was grinning from his seat, fighting the urge to laugh out loud. He had known that Turbo was going to lose badly but he didn't expect it to be _this_ glorious of a feeling. Watching him out there getting spun around by wind resistance was just hilarious.

Final lap.

Rocky's car went over the finish line.

AND THE WINNER IS ROOOOCKKYYYY!

And the crowd went wild.


	5. The Universal Code

**Going Turbo**

**Chapter ****Five****  
**

Turbo tumbled out of his seat and fell onto the grass. His head was spinning something awful. He heard the sound of the speaker announcing Rocky's win. He heard the crowd cheering Rocky's name. Not _his_ name, but Rocky's. He couldn't believe it. He had lost to a newcomer on his own track. And lost _badly_.

_Turbo-_freakin_-tastic._

How had he been able to go _so_ fast! It was insane, incomprehensible!

_He must have been toying with me the whole time. He knew his car was much faster than mine so he humored me until the end. _

"Pissed"was an understatement at how Turbo felt. Enraged. Humiliated. Defeated. Maybe even depressed.

He turned his eyes to the finish line. He could see everyone swarming around Rocky, congratulating him. Praise that was meant for _him_ was going to the new guy.

"Hey, party at Tapper's. On me!" he heard Rocky announce and then everyone cheered and followed their new racing star out towards the exit.

Turbo closed his eyes and rubbed them. He couldn't watch anymore. _That bastard..._

He heard footsteps running up to him.

"Turbo!" Rosie called anxiously. "Turbo, are you okay?"

She knelt down by him. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Just my pride," he answered mostly to himself. "Nothing important, right?"

Rosie began to stand up and move toward him. "Let me help you up."

"_Don't touch me_!" he snapped angrily, jerking his arm away from her.

She backed up instantly, staring at him first in shock then in fear. He had _never_ yelled at her before.

Turbo saw he had frightened her and sighed, looking away from her. "I'm sorry, I just...I'm beyond _pissed_ right now."

He was so mad he was shaking. His hands had formed fists beside him where he sat in the grass.

"It's okay," Rosie said quietly. "This wasn't the last race of your life. This doesn't mean anything."

"_Doesn't mean anything_?!" he yelled, pulling himself up with the car, which had regenerated itself after Rocky crossed the finish line.

"This was supposed to be the most important win of my life! And that...that..._freak_!" He was pointing out towards the exit where Rocky had already left the game. "That freak made a fool out of me! On my own turf! He came into _my_ game and made me look like an _idiot!_"

Rosie was too scared to say anything. She wanted to help him out, but not if he was going to yell at her over everything she said. She rubbed her hands together, not sure what to do. He had never gotten so angry over a loss before.

"The twins have...won races before...and you never let it bother you then..."

"That's not the same thing! It took them a while to get their first wins. This guy beat me _effortlessly _his first time here!"

"But that doesn't mean you're still not good! You're still the champ. He's only won one race, you've won...hundreds! Maybe thousands! You can't let one bad race spoil all the good ones!"

"What do you know?" It came out in a cruel tone. "You've never won anything."

"Whoa, time out, _pal_," she growled at him. "Just because you're having a moment doesn't mean you can take it out on me! If you haven't noticed, I'm the only one that came out here to check on you, and in return you start screaming at me. I don't know what's gotten into you, but I suggest you fix it, pronto!"

Rosie spun on her heel and stormed off, fully intent on leaving him there and marching right on back to her own console, but she was stopped from going too far when Turbo grabbed her hand to spin her around. She was about to yell something else at him until she saw the sad look on his face.

"Don't go, I'm sorry." He suddenly looked so exhausted. "I-I don't know where that came from. You don't deserve that."

She sighed. He looked so pitiful that she couldn't help but feel sorry for him, even if he was acting a little crazy.

"Feel better?"

"No. I feel pretty miserable. Your boyfriend's kind of a jerk."

"Kind of?"

"Okay, he _is_ one."

Rosie gave him a little smile. "Come on, champ. We can raid the private beer stash and just forget about this for a few hours."

No amount of alcohol or good make-up sex could make him forget about that night (_nothing_ would ever make him forget), but it was certainly a much appreciated distraction.

* * *

Tapper's was filled past its maximum capacity so the party ended up going out into the station itself. Rocky kept himself inside the bar itself, mingling with whoever wanted to talk to him...which was pretty much everyone there. It took a couple hours for the crowd to die down. Not that Rocky minded the attention.

"Congratulations," Teddy told him, taking a seat in the empty stool beside him. "That was freakin' kickass by the way. I have never seen driving like that before. I only wish I could've seen his face when he saw you speed by him like that!"

"You know, you could do it yourself if you wanted to."

"Are you kidding?" he scoffed. "I can only dream about driving like that in _my_ car."

Rocky motioned him to move closer. Teddy leaned in.

"See those space guys over there in the corner?" Rocky pointed his head to the left.

Teddy glanced briefly and nodded. "The guys from _Gradius_? What about them?"

"Well, I heard them talking. They were saying something about a rumor that the Nintendo version of their game has what they're calling the ultimate cheat code. Word has it you can tamper your own code with it."

Teddy's eyes glistened with greed. "No kidding?"

"Now, I'm not sure if it's gonna work or not, but I wrote it down for you."

Rocky slid a Tapper's napkin to Teddy, who looked at it. It was a series of arrows pointing in random directions and the letters B and A.

"Do you know where the codes are kept in your console?"

"Yeah, everyone knows where their own is."

"Well...just see if it works first. Then you can do whatever you want when you get in there. You can make your car faster or Turbo's slower. You can even turn your car rainbow-colored if you want or fetch your slippers for you. You can do _anything_."

Teddy couldn't believe his luck. Here in his hand was something that could potentially make _him _"the best", and boot that annoying Turbo out for good. Oh sure, he would let him win every now and then just to keep it interesting, but he was definitely taking advantage of this.

* * *

All was quiet in _TurboTime_ when Teddy returned alone. He didn't want to tell Ted about it unless this plan absolutely worked. He crept around to see if he could spot Turbo anywhere. He figured he was up at the big house banging that little whore of his like he usually did, but you never knew for sure. After he was positive the coast was clear, Teddy strolled casually to the far side of the stadium and towards the garage where the cars were kept. He was tempted to spit on Turbo's shiny red and white one but he kept it in. There was a curtain in the back that he drew back to reveal a long chrome colored hallway.

Beyond that was a rather bizarre lock that none of them had ever known how to unlock. It had a series of buttons on it in the shape of a cross, A and B buttons, and ones that said start and select on them right in the middle.

Hands trembling, he took out the napkin with the code written in the upper left corner.

Up Up. Down Down. Left. Right. Left. Right. B. A.

Nothing happened. Did he do it right? Confused, he pushed the start button to see what would happen and-

_Whoosh_.

The door opened. Teddy stared in amazement at this strange yet mystical place. It was mostly pitch black but floating in the middle of it was a bunch of free-floating codes attached to each other in certain patterns and groups. Palms sweating, Teddy stepped out to go in but realized immediately that he was going to float off without something anchoring him down.

Thinking fast, he shut the door to the Code Room and made his way to the smaller house that he and Ted stayed in. He grabbed the bedsheets off both beds (not that they really slept in there anyway) and made a rope with them. Then he carried that back to the Code Room, attached it to a bar outside of the door, attached it to himself, and opened the door back up.

"Here goes nothing."

He jumped in. He felt weightless and had to make swimming motions to get to the codes themselves. Boy, talk about a tangled web! He had to stop to read some of the categories and finally found the ones he was looking for. Turbo's was right in the center and naturally it was the biggest category of all.

"Even his codes have an ego problem!"

His own group of codes was off to the side along with his brother's. Now that he was here, he had to think about what to do.

"Let's see, should I speed my own car up? Might be a bit suspicious if I win all the time. Speed both mine _and _Ted's cars up? At least that would even it up between the two of us. Maybe I should just slow Turbo's down to make it easier on myself."

Considering the time crunch and the fact that he had zero hacking experience, he opted for the latter and started jacking Turbo's faster stats to go down. The codes hissed angrily as if trying to protect themselves but they did what he told them to do. They glowed a nice purple-red color, almost as if they were running a fever and were trying to fight against this foreign structure of coding.

He worked on it the rest of the night. By the time he was done, it was almost time for the arcade to open. Turbo had a headache, which he thought odd, but he shook it off and went to work.

* * *

A/N: The only part of the movie I didn't "get" was how an NES controller ended up inside an arcade console, so I'm just gonna roll with it and say that everyone's game magically has one as part of their Code Room locking devices. It's the only sense I can make out of that.

Anyway, thanks for all the "turbo-tastic" reviews so far! Turbo's being an attention whore over here so he said he wants to read some more, ha.


	6. Mental Breakdown

_To GladiatorofRome:_ _I would normally send a PM but since you're using a guest account, I can't do that, so I'll answer your question here! The way I figure is this: They can obviously eat and drink, we've seen that in the film. Also, they make statements like "pee pee" "doody" "soil myself" "puke" "vomit" "burp" "gassy" etc. Obviously they have a digestive system or else they wouldn't even know what they heck any of that was. So if they have that much of them that is anatomically correct, I will go ahead and assume that the rest of them is "correct" as well ;-) Also that song was actually one of the few I listened to while writing this! _

* * *

**Going Turbo**

**Chapter Six**

In the days that followed, between his defeat to Rocky and the day of his anniversary party, Turbo had a feeling something was off. Ted and Teddy both were winning a lot more than they usually did. Which meant that he was _losing_ more than he usually did. Not only in the after-hours races, but also in the actual gameplay as well. Some of the kids that played the game on a regular basis had complained on more than one occasion that something wasn't right because Turbo wasn't winning as much. Mr. Litwak figured they were being sore losers and told them to play something else.

Turbo just thought maybe he was still bummed out over the big loss to Rocky and that his attitude was affecting his driving. He kept telling himself to snap out of it but he would still keep losing. Teddy seemed to enjoy rubbing it in, as was the norm with him, sporting a shit-eating grin after a win. Yeah, he suspected something was up but didn't know what it could possibly be.

But he wasn't going to think about it at all tonight. Tonight was the big night. Ten year anniversary party!

* * *

"Wow, Mary, you really outdid yourself!" Turbo exclaimed. "The cake looks like a real car! Only smaller, but it looks real!"

"And I made sure to make it chocolate," the Nicelander winked at him. "I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure if I'd get the tires right."

"It looks turbo-tastic, thank you!"

Mary had a pleased grin on her face. She loved making the customers happy.

_Footloose_ was playing in the background and the party room was hopping. The house had been filled up before but never at this capacity. Makes a guy feel pretty good that he's popular enough to have this many people show up at his place.

"Look, I even made a mini-you," Mary pointed out, trying to get another compliment out of the deal. "In the car."

"Ha, well will ya look at that! And a trophy too!"

Not that he had been winning any lately. He pushed the reminder from his thoughts, not wanting to spoil his own party.

* * *

Teddy strolled into the big party room about an hour later, his brother following behind him. He wasn't in a real party mood though. He had drank about five beers before showing up just to tolerate being around Turbo all night. A big scowl crossed his face as he saw all the smiling guests going up and patting Turbo on the back, congratulating him for being around for ten years. It was enough to make him want to puke. Everybody always seemed to be kissing this guy's ass.

_Not me, _he thought grimly. He pasted a cocky smile on his face and walked up to the game's star_. The big honcho. The top dog. Or at least he used to be._

"Hey, Turbo," he greeted with a sarcastic undertone. "Nice party. Looks pretty _turbo-_tastic." He laughed a little crazily, earning him a few odd looks from the people around him.

Turbo glared at him. "Are you drunk already?"

"You would be too if you were me. The only thing worse I can think of would be being _you_."

Teddy didn't realize, nor care, that he was raising his voice steadily the whole time. People were starting to turn to see what the commotion was about.

"Keep your voice down," Turbo warned him quietly. "This is not the time to be causing a scene."

"Why not? Good a time as any."

The purple-donned racer shoved Turbo to the side, issuing a an array of gasps across the room. He then proceeded to halt the music and grab the DJ's microphone for himself.

"Good evening, friends...neighbors...people who are neither...hope you're all having a good time. I know I'm not. I _suppose _I should be congratulating our host here for being popular enough to warrant to such a fabulous party. Ten years!" Teddy started pacing back and forth as he talked. "Ten years of wins, trophies, adoring fans, pats on the back...the lifestyle of a celebrity."

He stopped pacing and looked directly at Turbo. "At least, until recently right? I mean, how many times have you even won this week? Twice? Three, maybe four?" He chuckled cruelly.

Turbo's hands rolled into fists. He was trying to keep calm, but it was hard when he was being publicly humiliated about a sensitive subject.

The other racer continued with his roast. "Seems like the big shot's lost what it takes to make a winner around here. It's almost embarrassing to see our _star_ make a fool of himself out there."

He threw the mike over his shoulder and made his way back down to face his opponent. "What's wrong, Tur-bozo? Did the _RoadBlasters _guy spin you around so much during that joke of a race that you just don't know how to win anymore?"

"Leave him alone!" Rosie cried, having had to push her way through the crowd. "If you're so great, why don't _you_ go out there and try to beat him!"

Teddy raised an arm up high above his head. "Can it, you little tramp!"

He was about to slap her across the face but he didn't get a chance to. Turbo's fist suddenly flew out and punched him so hard that he fell backwards a few feet. He rubbed his jaw and looked up to see an enraged Turbo flying towards him. The red-and-white racer landed on him and he grabbed Teddy's collar to lift his head up.

The crowd let out a unanimous scream and fell back to give them room. Nobody wanted to get involved in a fistfight outside their own game.

"Don't you _ever_ lay a hand on her, _you hear me?" _Turbo hissed, his yellow eyes bright with hatred.

For a second, Teddy was actually _afraid _of him_. _

But _only_ for a second.

"Back off, you has-been!" he yelled back, throwing his own punch in Turbo's face.

Oh that did it.

The two of them began to scream and roll around, punching and kicking the living shit out of each other. One would get the upper-hand for about five seconds before it would switch to the other's favor. Everyone was panicking, trying to get out of the way but yet close enough to be able to see who won in the end. It was like a train wreck you couldn't pull your eyes away from.

Teddy eventually got his legs curled up enough to kick Turbo off of him, hard enough to fly him right into the cake table. Mary let out a cry of agony as her hard work crumbled into a heaping mess.

"How does it feel!" Teddy cried out, wiping the blood from his mouth. "How does it feel to know that you suck, and there's nothing you can do to change that!"

Turbo would have several homicidal urges in his future, many that he would act on, but this was the first time he had ever hated someone so much at one time that he really felt he could break the other guy's neck. He grabbed a beer bottle that had rolled to the floor and threw it hard at Teddy's face, the glass shattering upon impact. Teddy grabbed his face and screamed in pain, giving Turbo the opening he needed to flatten the guy on the floor. He sat on Teddy's chest and wrapped both hands around his neck, fully intent on choking him to death.

"You little prick!" he cursed as Teddy tried to fight him for air. "You think _I_ suck? What about _you!_ You aren't even on the _console!_ And whose _name_ is in the title of this game, huh? HUH?"

His grip got tighter and tighter, and Teddy's face began to turn colors.

"_I'm_ the star of this program! _Me_! Not you! If you were, we'd be playing _TeddyTime,_ _wouldn't we_?!"

Pac-Man rushed in with an open mouth and grabbed Turbo from behind, pulling the angry racer off of Teddy. Teddy gasped for air, rubbing his throat to ease the pain. Pac-Man spit Turbo out and floated back.

"You psycho!" Teddy tried to shout in a hoarse voice.

Turbo looked around the room. Everyone was staring at him in fear. Not love, respect, or admiration. _Fear_.

What the hell was wrong with him?

* * *

"Here."

Turbo had his head buried in his hands, sitting in a cross-legged position on the floor. He looked up, wincing in pain as he did so. It would be a while before he regenerated back to his normal healthy form. If he had been in a race, he would have done so immediately but that wasn't the case here. Everyone at the party had left about thirty minutes ago. Crashing into the cake and fisticuffs apparently were good reasons to leave.

"What is it?"

"It's an ice pack. You've got a nice shiner on the left there, champ."

He reached for it slowly without argument and pressed it against his aching face. The cold was a shock but it did feel better to have it there than not.

"I don't know why you couldn't let Felix heal you with his hammer. Would've only taken a second."

"I don't need any help," Turbo replied stubbornly.

"Well, I think you do. Every one's worried about you...especially me." She was getting teary-eyed. "Besides, it's better than sitting there bleeding all over the floor."

Turbo honestly couldn't have cared if he bled to death and just ended all this pain and misery. Everything Teddy had said was right. He had turned into a loser and there was nothing he could do about it. The end had come.

He looked up at the girl and saw the trace of a tear roll down her face. _Pity_. She felt sorry for him. Part of him was aggravated that he was in a position to be pitied. The other, albeit much smaller, part was glad that someone still cared enough to make sure he was fine.

_TurboTime _was going to get unplugged, that was no question. The question was "how soon?". Less and less gamers were playing. Litwak surely noticed.

Turbo slowly rose to his feet, tossing the ice pack to the side, and started walking off. He was in his own little world, not even hearing Rosie ask him where he was going.

He opened up the door to the first Trophy Room. All those gold cups, sitting in a line, glistened at him. He used to love shining them up and admiring them after a race. He hadn't done that in so long, it was like a faint memory.

Turbo grabbed one of the trophies and looked at it. His reflection stared back at him. Anger and self-loathing filled him and with a cry he threw the damn thing across the room, knocking a whole row of cups off a back wall shelf. Then he just started grabbing them, one by one, hurling them at the walls and the window. He went forward and kicked the glass out of a display case before upturning it with a loud crash.

He felt someone grab him in a hug from behind. "Stop it! Stop it!" he heard Rosie pleading with him, with a sob in her voice. "Please, you're going to hurt yourself!"

He broke out of her arms and stormed onwards to the door that led to the second Trophy Room. He picked a cup up and used to like a baseball bat, slamming all the other ones onto the floor. Kicked some more cases down. Broke a window or two. He could hear Rosie crying behind him but he was too worked up and pissed off to care about anything at that moment.

When Turbo got done destroying that room, he headed to the third and last one. In the very back, in a special case all to itself alone on the back wall was his favorite trophy of all: his very first one. The very first time he had ever raced and he had won. Victory had never tasted so good as that first time but that didn't mean he didn't like to recreate it with the other wins. He would never forget how wonderful, how _glorious_ it had felt to hold that trophy in his hands.

But now it sat there, mocking him, a painful reminder of all he had worked for. And for _what_? What was the point in being the best if it was just going to lead to a painful end?

He collapsed on the floor, holding himself up with the palms of his hands. Sweat dripped off him, mixing with the blood still on his face from earlier. His head was spinning from all the hatred and bitterness within him.

A small hand touched his back comfortingly. The shock of it caused him to tense up violently and he clawed at the carpet under his hands.

"It's okay, you're okay," Rosie, sweet Rosie, said soothingly as she knelt down by him. Her face was soaking wet with tears. She had always tried so hard not to cry in front of him, to prove she was more mature than her programmed age of eighteen.

"Honey, please, I can't-I can't stand seeing you like this. I love you, let me help-"

"_Stop it_!" Turbo hissed at her. "Why...why can't you just _hate_ me? It would be so much _easier_ if you just _hated _me!"

"_Hate_ you? Why do you want me to hate you? I don't-

"_Because_ _I hate myself_!"

Rosie's eyes widened in shock, then softened again. "Oh...don't...don't say things like that. I _love_ you-"

"Stop _saying_ that!" he demanded with a growl. It was physically _hurting _him to hear her talk like that. "Just leave me alone."

"But...but-"

"_DAMN IT!" _

He spun around on her so quickly that she fell over backward out of fright. She couldn't help but look at him as if he was crazy. Maybe he _was_ crazy. He certainly looked the part with his clenched teeth and fiercely glowing eyes.

_"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!"_

She looked so hurt that for a split-second Turbo regretted yelling at her. Her face crumpled into a mess of tears and she scrambled to get out there, sobbing continuously on her way out of house, past the racetrack, and out of the game entirely.

_I'm sorry, but it was for the best._

* * *

His code was sputtering more violently now, shades of red popping up in places. The original format was losing an endless battle with the foreign programming_. Must win, not lose_.


	7. Going Turbo

_Wow, thanks for all the reviews! My inbox was getting __assaulted! This was probably the hardest one to write. I think I rewrote it like four times, but I had fun doing it! Hope you guys enjoy!_

* * *

**Going Turbo**

**Chapter Seven**

Mr. Litwak was straightening a few things up around the arcade before he opened it to the public, checked on the games to see if they were looking all right. The bespectacled owner frowned when he came to the _TurboTime_ console. Nobody had been by to play it yesterday. He knew because there had been no quarters to collect from it. He looked up at Turbo's smiling face on the console's title picture. The little guy would probably be frowning if he knew that he wasn't as popular as he used to be.

Digging a quarter of his own out, he slipped it into the slot and got into position to play himself. The limited theme song played its few notes and the sound of race cars exited from the speaker. There was Turbo in his red-and-white car and then the other two racers in their purple ones. Mr. Litwak was a pretty big fan of playing this game so he was a little surprised to see that he only got third place.

"Huh, that's odd," he muttered, scratching his head. "Guess the kids were onto something when they said it was running a little slow...like my nana."

_I hope ol' Turbo doesn't have a bug or something_, he thought briefly. _Might be getting close to time to retire the little guy._

* * *

Turbo sat in his car, sulking and staring blankly past the hood. He hadn't said a word all day. Just sitting there, lost in a sea of thoughts and memories. Ted was getting creeped out and even worried about him. Teddy thought he was just being big baby about the fight they had last night.

The sounds from outside the arcade were coming in loud enough for Turbo to hear. All those laughing children. _Little brats_. He had entertained them for years and they all abandoned him for the next best thing. _RoadBlasters. _He decided right then and there that he hated kids, all of them. None of them knew what loyalty was.

He turned his head ever so slightly to take a look outside the console and his eyes fell on _RoadBlasters._ That damn Rocky. That damn Rocky and his damn better graphics and faster car and rock music.

_This is all his __fault. If he hadn't shown up, I would still be the best around here. He did something to me. Ever since I lost against him, I've been on a losing streak. Everything would have stayed the same if he had never shown up. _

Loser. Has-been. Second Place. Third Place.

_Aww, too bad! You lose! Try again! Insert a quarter!_

**TURBO-TASTIC!**

Turbo's car screeched wildly as he hastily shifted into high gear and sped off his track, headed for the exit. He had to get his old life back, he _had _to make it..._**TURBO-TASTIC****.**_..again, like it was before. He had to destroy the thing that caused all this pain.

Turbo raced through his portal and into the station. Everyone whose game was still plugged in was where they were supposed to be. Only the homeless were out and about. They screamed and dodged out of his way as he high-tailed it through _RoadBlasters' _portal.

There he was, Rocky. In his fancy-ass car. He was in the middle of a game with two boys at the controls. Fine, let him get humiliated with witnesses around. Turbo kept speeding towards the track, then _across_ the track. He flipped the bird at his nemesis as he went by, a giant grin plastered to his face as he did so.

**_TURBO-TASTIC!_**

"The hell?" Rocky said right before crashing his car. He regenerated immediately since he was in game mode. He started forward, looked around, and to his surprise and horror was rammed in the side by Turbo's car.

He started glitching up from the sudden impact. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Taking my life back!" Turbo answered with a maniacal look on his face. "It's _your _fault I went down, so I'm going to rise back up, riding on your _ashes_ the whole way!"

* * *

Over in _Fix-It Felix, Jr_., Ralph was at the part of the game where he gets thrown off the roof by the Nicelanders. As he got lifted up, he looked out and could have sworn he saw Turbo's car racing back and forth across the screen of _RoadBlasters. _

_That's impossible, I must be seeing things. He wouldn't dare try that during arcade hours...would he?_

* * *

Mr. Litwak was called over by the two boys playing _RoadBlasters_. He looked at the screen just in time to see Turbo's car smashing up the side of the game's car and fuzzing the whole screen up. He immediately threw an "Out of Order" sign up. He thought he was right earlier that _TurboTime _might be buggy and it broke his heart to have to get of the little guy, but he had to protect his other games.

* * *

The sky turned a crazy orange color and Rocky looked behind him just in time to see an "Out of Order" sign being slapped onto his console's screen. His eyes widened. He knew what _that_ meant.

Turbo's face lit up with an insane gleeful expression. He had done it! Rocky was going to be unplugged and then _TurboTime_ would be the only racing game in the arcade again! He would finally be the best again!

Rocky managed to whip his car away from Turbo's. If it was a fight he wanted, well he sure as hell was going to get it!

"You little asswipe!" Rocky was shouting as he exited his car. "You think you can come into _my_ game and screw _me_ over?"

"That's funny, isn't that the same thing you did to _me?_ How does it feel knowing that you're going to be unplugged? Never to be played again! _Game over_!"

With that, Turbo hit the gas and sped nonstop at the larger man. SMACK! Rocky's body hit the hood of his car with a sickening thud. Turbo hit the brakes and Rocky was thrown off a few feet in front of the car. Then he just kept running him over...backing up...running him over...it didn't take long for Rocky to be turned into a bloody mess. Groaning, Rocky tried to crawl away to his car. Turbo grinned crazily at him and then simply turned around and headed back out of the game.

Rocky had to crawl with great difficulty and pain, and each movement felt like someone was stabbing him. He swore as soon as he was able to, he was going to _kill_ that little creep! It took him maybe ten minutes to finally reach the car and get inside of it. He had barely had time to rest when he felt the strange sensation of being ripped apart. The sky began to swirl and turn into a tornado of colors and codes. Everything around him was being sucked into a vortex. He let out a scream as he saw code flying off of his own body, his very being getting torn away into fragments of nothing. The sheer agony made him lose what sanity he had and then he simply...quit existing.

_RoadBlasters_ had been unplugged.

* * *

Turbo escaped the dying game and headed back into his own. The Surge Protector looked pretty pissed but he didn't care. He had his life back, he was going to be the best again! His fans would come back to him, the trophies would be his once more, he would have a girlfriend that could be proud of him and not pity him, the life he once had was now possible for him to keep! It was all so **TURBO-TASTIC**!

When he returned into his own world, he was surprised to find himself being slammed in the side. He looked over to the right and saw Teddy in his own car. Teddy stood up from his seat, a very angry scowl on his face.

"You maniac!" Teddy was screaming. "Thanks to you, now _we're_ getting unplugged!"

Turbo looked confused but then he realized there was an orange glow covering the entire realm of his game. An "Out of Order" sign was slapped to his console's screen. Whatever good mood Turbo had been in disappeared in an instant.

"No! No, it wasn't supposed to be like this!" he cried. "I was trying to save us!"

"No, you were trying to save _yourself_!" Teddy corrected. "You're so full of it that you just had to try to take over another game that was better than yours! Now Litwak thinks we're buggy! So thanks a _whole freakin' bunch_!"

Turbo's mind was a flurry of confusion, anger, sadness. He sat in his car, dejected. His life was finally going to be perfect again. Now it was all crashing down..._again_.

_It's not fair! This was going to be my second chance!  
_

Teddy realized that he had Turbo in the middle of a low moment. It would be so easy to make it _worse_ for him.

"Though I have to admit," Teddy began with a much friendlier tone and a sly smile. "I'm glad you got rid of that annoying girlfriend of yours. But still, killing her off with your rival...even _I_ couldn't have come up with _that_!"

Turbo's eyes got big and he snapped his head around to look at Teddy. "_What_ are you talking about?"

"Oh, you mean you didn't know?" Teddy feigned surprise. "Ooops! Why, when Rosie saw you go nuts into _RoadBlasters_, she thought she'd be a heroine or whatever and try to talk some sense into you. I thought maybe you saw her. Ted told me all about it, he went outside to see where you went off to in such a hurry. He got so freaked about it that he ran back down to our house to get our stuff so we could ditch this place."

Oh God. Oh GOD. Surely she didn't...oh but of _course_ she did! She would have done _anything_ to keep him from doing something crazy, especially if there was a chance he could've died doing it!

W_hat the hell have I done? Why, why __couldn't she have done as I said and just HATED me?! She would still be alive if she had just HATED me!_

"I wonder if she cried for you when she got torn into pieces as the game died? Pretty gruesome way to go. Couldn't have happened to a nicer whore."

Turbo listened to Teddy laugh. He sat there for a maybe a minute, his mind growing more blank as he did. He ripped the shift-change stick out of his car and hopped out. Teddy didn't even see him coming until he was nearly on top of him. He quit laughing.

"Whoa, wait, what the hell are you doing?" Teddy asked right before Turbo jumped into the car with him and started beating him with the stick. "Stop it, you'll kill me!"

"Shut up!" He kept hitting him in the face, over and over. Teddy was desperately trying to protect himself to no avail.

"_Turbo, stop, please_! I'm _begging_ you, _stop!"_

Turbo stopped. He looked down at the bloody pulp that was Teddy's face.

"Look...look man," Teddy was gurgling through a mouthful of blood. "I have something you might want. Just don't kill me. I swear, it's worth your time."

"Why should I listen to you? What could you _possibly_ have that I would want? You can't give me _anything_ back that I've lost!"

"No, but I _can_ give you a second chance." Teddy weakly reached inside the chest part of his racing uniform. He pulled out what appeared to be a piece of paper. "It's a code. It lets you inside the Code Rooms of the arcade consoles, _any _of them. You can start your life over with this."

Turbo cautiously took the paper, keeping one eye on Teddy the whole time. He held in his hand a napkin from _Tapper's_ with an odd formula of arrows and the letters B and A on it. Just looking at it gave him an overwhelming sense of power.

"You can do _anything_ you want with it," Teddy said quietly, trying to drive the point home.

"How did you get this? Tell me and I might not drag your worthless carcass outside this console and give you a permanent game over."

"I...I got it from...Rocky. He gave it to me. He told me to slow your car down so he would win that race," he lied. Rocky was dead now, he wouldn't mind being a scapegoat. "You're really not that slow, it was some weird bug he told me to put in your code."

"You did _WHAT_?" He shook Teddy violently. "You did _WHAT_ to me? You shit, you gave me a _virus?_!"

"Dude, I swear, I didn't know!" Teddy was legitimately crying. "He told me to do it, I was just doing what he said. He said he'd kill me if I didn't. Please, don't hurt me anymore."

"I should _kill_ you! You _ruined_ my life with a _lie_!" He was shaking Teddy even harder now. "My girlfriend is _dead_! My game is getting _unplugged_! You _son of a bitch_!"

"Please, just hear me out." Teddy was holding his hands up in front of his face in defense. "You can make a new life for yourself. Forget about this one. Start over. I'm sorry I screwed you up, just please let me go!"

Turbo let go of his back-stabbing co-racer, who fell back with a thud, and he began to think things over. So he _was _the best. Had been all along. He should've known that cheating was in play. No one was better than him after all. Too bad Rosie wasn't alive to hear this.

_No, don't even think about her. Don't ever think of this life again. Just forget all about it. If that's even possible.  
_

Turbo had enough sense to know that if he walked out of here that he would more than likely be treated like some kind of criminal. He had, after all, broken the unspoken rule of game-hopping during arcade hours and, even worse, causing another game to get unplugged...killing lives in the process. He would have to be disguised but how...

He heard the sound of another car coming from the stadium. _Ted._ Turbo looked down at Teddy and smiled.

"Thanks, Teddy. You've been a great help," he told him in an eerily calm voice. "Now it's time for you and your brother to say good-night. But not before you help me do one last thing."


	8. Unplugged (with Epilogue)

**Going Turbo**

**Chapter Eight**

Surge Protector was infuriated. He had never in his years of existence seen anyone game-jump during opening hours and _certainly_ not interfere with the gameplay in such a manner to cause unplugging. He stood at the entrance of _TurboTime _with a sour look on his face. He had heard the news that it was going to get unplugged as well and he was not about to let Turbo loose in his station for the duration of his homeless life, no-siree-Bob!

The balding blue hologram saw someone coming out of the portal and heading his way. He recognized that it was one of the twins, but couldn't tell which one. He was carrying a small bag over his shoulder, possibly containing belongings. Most carried what they needed upon news that they were going to be without a home.

"Son, what the Sam Hill is going on?" he asked as the purple racer stepped over into the station. "Which one are you anyway?"

"Uh...Ted," the racer replied hoarsely, making sure to hide his face in the shadows. "It was so...I don't know _what_ happened! Turbo just went looney. Got so jealous of that new racing game that he wanted to take over it. Then he came back and...and...killed Teddy!"

Ted let out a sniffling cry and wiped his nose. "I...I tried to stop him but he just kept beating on him! He was a raving lunatic! I finally hit him in the back of his head to knock him out...I _had_ to do it! He was going to kill me too!"

Surge Protector frowned and patted the boy on the back. "It's fine now. If he wakes up and tries to escape into the station before the game gets unplugged, I'll put a stop to it. He's not going to be around one way or another."

Ted smiled a little bit and rubbed his eyes. "Th-thank you. If you'll excuse me, I just want to be alone now."

The security man nodded in understanding and let him pass. "Good luck, Ted. I'm sorry it had to end this way."

"Yeah, me too. And thanks again."

* * *

Turbo grinned as he walked away from the Surge Protector. It was a good thing he looked enough like the twins to pass. He had forced Ted to hand over his uniform right before killing both him and his brother. He secretly hated that he'd had to kill Ted, as he had never really done him any wrong. But then, he had never really done him any _right _either.

Turbo patted his duffel bag that he had stolen off Ted. Inside contained his own red-and-white uniform and helmet along with a few food items and water bottles. Ted had really planned on leaving, hadn't he? Too bad he didn't have any beer bottles in there.

He heard a loud roaring sound and then a _blip! _as _TurboTime _ceased to exist. His old life really was gone now. The house, the cars, the parties, _everything_. Sadness washed over him but he forced it away. He had to try not to think too much about the way it used to be. And right now he needed to figure out what to do next. Sooner or later someone would realize that he wasn't Ted, people weren't stupid. He might be able to fool them for a few days but not long.

He covertly pulled out the _Tapper's _napkin Teddy gave him and glanced at the code on it. If Teddy was telling the truth, he could easily sneak his way into another racing game and take over as a character there. Maybe even rule the place. He was the _best_ after all. But that might take a while, who knew when Litwak would get another one in?

He glanced around at the game titles around him and his eyes landed on one particular game at the very end of the station_. _He grimaced in disgust. He hated that stupid game, it just looked so pointless to him even if the younger gamers did love it. The only thing good thing about it was no one ever went inside to visit it and the game's own character never came out. Turbo could easily play around with the Code Room there and see what all he could actually tamper with. Get some practice in. And no one would even notice. Everyone would soon think he was dead.

And that's just how he wanted it.

But he would be back someday. Maybe not as "Turbo", but he would be back.

And he would be the best, just like he always had been...and always would be.

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

Of course Rosie wasn't dead. She hadn't even been anywhere near _RoadBlasters _or any other game but her own when Turbo "went Turbo", as the incident came known to be called. No, she had been doing warm-up exercises with Summer and Raven inside their gym in their home game _Slam Dunk!. _She didn't know a thing about what Turbo had been up to until she walked out after-hours and heard the news.

Wreck-It Ralph was relating what he had seen during his own gameplay earlier that day, about seeing Turbo enter _RoadBlasters _while some kids were playing it. Surge Protector verified this, saying that both games became unplugged...and that Turbo died in his own game. He just snapped and went on a killing spree, they all said.

Everyone who knew Rosie was asking if he had maybe talked about doing this unspeakable act in the days prior. If he had planned it out and if he had, why didn't she say anything. She didn't comment. She didn't _have_ a comment.

The redheaded cheerleader who used to be so plucky and friendly became a sad face sitting alone at _Tapper's_, trying to drown herself with root beer. Ol' Tapper pitied her enough to break his own "no sale to minors" rule and slip a little of the real stuff in her drink every now and then just so she'd get tired and go home to bed.

Summer and Raven started being nicer to her, hanging out with her more than they did before. She supposed she appreciated having the company but that didn't stop the nagging thoughts in her head.

She was a _cheerleader,_ damn it! Her job was to make people happy, feel good about themselves, cheer them up when they're down, support them with their goals, get them pumped up about the things to come, make you want to be alive. And she failed. She _failed._ What kind of girlfriend had she been? She tried to help him but she just couldn't. Nothing she had done could convince him that it was all going to be okay. And now he was gone forever.

Okay, so she knew it wasn't her fault that he struck out to sabotage two games in one sweeping motion. _That _she had no control over. If only she hadn't left that day when he screamed at her to leave. She should've put her foot down and forced some reason into him. She had gotten so scared (_such a big baby! _she scolded herself_) _though and it hurt her to know that she couldn't rewind that moment back and change things.

Years went by. Sure she dated a few other guys but her heart just wasn't in it. Things never lasted long. It didn't help that someone would make snide comments such as "Watch it, everyone that dates her ends up going psycho!", or worse "She won't like you, fella, she only dates murderers.".

That last one really hurt. She supposed that even after all the bad Turbo had done and all the hurtful things that had come with it, she was still in love with her "champ". You can't change how you feel. You can't _forget _how you felt about someone no matter how much time had past.

"Going Turbo" became the euphenism for abandoning your game and entering another one. It became a warning to everyone of what could happen if jealousy and self-serving attitudes got the better of you. Turbo had gone down in history as a infamous supervillain instead of the charismatic top racer that he had been designed to be. Rosie wondered what he would have thought about this. Then she remembered he couldn't think anything about _anything_ anymore and start crying again.

_Slam Dunk! _got unplugged in 1992 due to lack of people playing. Summer and Raven had started dating Ken and Ryu, respectively, from _Street Fighter II_. They had replaced the originals when _Street Fighter_ was sent packing. Naturally, the girls wanted to live over there with their boyfriends when they all became homeless and they insisted Rosie come with them to keep her out of the station begging for food. She supposed it was fine there. Chun Li taught her a few defense moves that would go well with her already present gymnastic abilities. It was a fun distraction but she still felt lonely. Strange way to feel when you're surrounded by people.

A new racing game finally came to the arcade in 1997. It was called _Sugar Rush_. Everyone thought it was adorable in a sickeningly sweet way. Who couldn't love a collection of kids racing each other through a series of candy-themed tracks?

Just the idea of racing made Rosie sick. It brought back too many memories, both good and bad. She'd start drinking herself away with the beer that the _Street Fighter_ gang would bring back from _Tapper's. _She thought about just ending it all a few times just to put a stop to all the thoughts in her head, but then she'd tell herself that was a childish thing to do.

So she decided to leave her little home she shared with Summer and Raven. She didn't tell anyone where she was going, she just went. The only one that knew where she had gone was Surge Protector and the residents of the game she had entered. She knew they wouldn't tell anyone where she was because they pretty much kept to themselves also. Maybe she would be okay if she was out of society for a while.

_"A while" turned into fifteen years. That's how long it took for society to come crashing back into her life._

_The End...for now..._

* * *

_Yep, I ended with a sequel hook. Shame on me! I do have a sequel in the works that will double as a sequel to the movie itself. It will have plenty of Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun in it. Oh and Turbo too ;-) Not sure when it will get posted but I am working on it I promise! It will be more along the lines of action/adventure with drama thrown in and a little more humor. If anyone wants, I'll send a pm when I get it up and going. Thanks everyone for reading and hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it._


End file.
